London 'the world's most gridlocked city'

London is the worst city in the world for traffic jams, a survey has found.

The capital fared worse than more than 100 major cities in new analysis of its road network.

A study by traffic analyst INRIX found the average London driver spends 101 hours each year sitting in gridlock.

Traffic in London was found to be worse than New York, Paris and Rome.

It is the second year in a row that London was found to be the worst city in the world for traffic.

Taxi driver Joe Cartwright, 46, said he thought traffic on London’s roads today was “unbelieveable” and had got worse in recent years.

“I’ve been doing this for 16 years. You always expect a bit of traffic.

“But getting from where I live in Islington to central London is becoming a real chore because of the narrowing and closure of roads.

“I’ve been driving long enough to see absolutely mad changes in levels of traffic. This morning I drove my daughter to Euston station. It took 25 minutes – 10 years ago it would have been 10 minutes.

A 10-mile stretch of the A217 in London was the UK’s most congested road for the second year running, costing each driver an average of 110 hours, or 4.5 days, of wasted time in 2015.

Outside of London, three of the five most congested roads were in Manchester (the A580, M60 and A5103) while Newcastle came fourth with the A1/A1M.

The growth of the UK’s economy, the fall in unemployment and the rise in population could be inflammatory factors, the report suggested

Compared to Europe, out of the 13 countries analysed, the UK was ranked in the middle at number six – down one place from last year.

INRIX describes itself as the world’s largest traffic intelligence network, with its data coming from sources including local transport authorities and road sensors.

Its study compared the average speed of traffic on roads when they are unblocked with what they are actually like at each 15-minute interval throughout the day.

This data is then used to form a so-called Travel Time Index which INRIX says can be used to measure congestion intensity and the number of hours wasted by drivers on roads.

Bryan Mistele, president and CEO of INRIX, said: “London is the victim of its own success, with a robust jobs market and a growing economy attracting more people, more construction and consequently more traffic.

“Transport for London is tackling this problem with its £4 billion Road Modernisation Plan. Whilst in the short term the roadworks from this initiative are frustrating for drivers, they are a step towards creating a more sustainable and modernised transport network.”

Garrett Emmerson, Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport at TfL, blamed traffic on large scale construction work going on across the city.

He said: “Our city’s unprecedented population and economic growth has been a catalyst for a huge range of construction projects that are having a short-term effect on traffic. At the same time, we’re ensuring that our roads are fit for the 21st century with our £4bn Roads Modernisation making the roads safer, greener and more reliable.”

He added transport officials were cracking down on illegal and inconsiderate drivers who exacerbate traffic issues on London’s roads.